After the Date
by daccu65
Summary: The side effects of being a sidekick can be rough; injury, pain and even isolation. Yet sometimes, muddling through them can bring its own reward. Set after Blush.


_Dear reader:_

_Please know that none of the characters appearing in this tale belong to me. This story is not intended to generate profit; it was written for the joy of writing and, hopefully, the joy of reading. With these preliminaries taken care of, please enjoy..._

* * *

Oh, she so had to thank Ron! There was no way that words could express her gratitude, so she was going to have to treat him to Bueno Nacho, the quantity of which would challenge reality. Her friend could eat junk food to the point that she was convinced the volume of processed meat and cheese product exceeded his internal volume, but it had come time to challenge that theory. Ron had saved her life last night and managed to keep her date, Josh, from knowing that there had been an issue. That went above and beyond friendship. As luck would have it, it was Friday...'Ron night'...so she could treat him to his favorite quasi-food.

She hadn't been so excited for Ron to stop by on the way to school for years. Every few minutes, she checked both the clock and looked out the window. Finally, the familiar form of her best friend appeared on the sidewalk, down the block. Smiling wide, she scooped up her books and rushed down the stairs, shouting to her mother and father that she was off to school. She didn't wait for Ron to ring the bell, she was out the door and met him on the walk before he could reach the front step.

"Thank you so much!" She threw her arms around his neck, prepared to gush about how much she appreciated what he had done, but he flinched when she hugged him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, noticing that he was grimacing.

"Oh, no big," he assured her, although he was clearly uncomfortable. "I just think I pulled a muscle during the mission."

"Rough one?" She asked, directing him towards school.

"Typical," he assured her. "Digging, rapids, very large cats with big teeth...that sort of thing."

"Well, we're almost to the weekend," she assured him. "School today, practice tonight and I'm going to treat you to Bueno Nacho tonight. You've so much more than earned it."

"I'll hold you to it," he assured her.

Her best friend was the only damper on her enthusiasm. Her date last night, with her crush, had been wonderful...once you overlooked Drakken's shenanigans and the whole almost being blushed into oblivion thing. This meant that Josh was evolving from being her crush and could become her full-blown boyfriend! Classes were going well and the squad was absolutely crushing their latest routine. As much as she knew that pulled muscles and soreness were part of the missions, she couldn't help but be worried about Ron.

Those worries didn't go away during the school day. Even though she was able to gush a little with Monique about her date as well as spend some time between classes with Josh, Ron wasn't getting any better. Usually, pulled muscles got better with time and with activity but Ron was still moving gingerly. Well, there was still cheer practice, then Ron night. She would have plenty of time to question him thoroughly and find out if something was wrong.

* * *

Josh was glad that Middleton was a pretty mellow high school.

In some schools, the boys were specifically prohibited from watching the cheerleaders' practices but because there wasn't a problem with students being disruptive, or even creepy, Middleton had never instituted such a policy. Because of this, he was free to head to the gym after classes and watch Kim run the squad through the paces. He knew that Friday nights were evening that Kim spent chilling with Ron, but there wasn't anything wrong with asking her about Saturday. Last night, she had seemed to finally unwind around him and be herself and he hoped that meant that the two of them could move past the awkwardness and be a real teen couple. He was a little surprised to see Brick Flagg already seated in the bleachers.

"Oh, hey," the big guy greeted him. "It's Josh, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Josh answered. He took a seat fairly close to the quarterback. "I'm assuming you're here to pick up Bonnie after practice."

"Yeah," Brick nodded. "We have a date tonight. Are you here to see Kim?"

"Is it that obvious?" Josh asked. Brick only grinned in reply.

"The girls are good athletes," Brick told him, making friendly conversation. "And so is Stoppable, but he's off his game tonight."

"Oh, you watch the squad a lot?"

"Bonnie gets after me if I'm not here," he admitted. "At least when I don't have practice, myself." He frowned for a moment. "But I'm really impressed by how agile they all are, even if Stoppable is hurting."

"How can you tell?" Josh was honestly curious.

"I might not be very smart when it comes to math or history," the big guy admitted. "But I know about muscles and tendons. Stoppable has some sort of injury to his pectoral muscles. He's timid about using his arms, so I don't think he's going to be able to handle any sort of heavy lifting right now."

Josh thought about that for a moment, after deciding to take Brick at his word. The squad was forming a pyramid, with Ron and a couple of backup cheerleaders acting as spotters.

"Just how heavy of a load is going to be too much for Ron?" He asked his current companion.

"I can't really say," Brick answered.

"Okay, could he handle a weight of say, one hundred pounds falling from eight feet up?"

"I can't be sure, but I doubt it," Brick shrugged.

"He's acting as a spotter," Josh pointed out. "What happens if one of the cheerleaders, say Bonnie, falls from that height? Will Ron be able to catch her?"

"Are you calling Bonnie fat?" Brick looked a little irritable at that one.

"No," Josh shook his head. "She's healthy. She isn't anorexic. Like all of the squad, she's muscular and that muscle weighs something."

"That's true enough," the little bit of defensiveness had vanished from Brick's attitude. "Muscle's heavier than fat."

"So what happens when one of those athletic cheerleaders falls from the top of the tower?" Josh asked. "And Ron tries to catch her?"

"He won't be able to," Brick told her. "Then she'll hit the ground and..."

Brick Flagg had a reputation of not being all that bright, but nobody could claim he was indecisive. It took a few seconds of thought for him to realize what Josh had pointed out, evidenced by the time it took for his eyes to fly wide, but once he figured out the situation, he was on his feet and rushing onto the gym floor. Josh was on his heels.

"Brick, what are you doing out here?" Bonnie demanded.

"No interrupting a practice session!" Kim snapped.

"I'll interrupt it when someone's in danger," Brick protested. "Stoppable can't be the spotter!"

"Why not?" Kim demanded. "He's done it since last year!"

"He's hurt," Josh told her.

"What makes you think that?" Bonnie demanded, although Kim gave her friend a speculative look.

"Brick, I think you're going to have to demonstrate," Josh told the big quarterback.

Again, it took Brick a moment or two to understand what Josh meant but he didn't hesitate once he grasped the concept. He moved quickly for a big man, grabbing Ron's sweatshirt before the mascot could react and yanking it up, whispering an apology to the smaller student. Josh had a moment to contemplate that Ron was surprisingly muscular before his attention, like the squad's, was drawn to the large bandage taped across his left pectoral. The skin around the edges of the bandage was clearly swollen and discolored.

"Ron, what happened to you?" Kim demanded. "You said you had just pulled a muscle!"

"I wasn't quick enough yesterday," Ron told her. "A jaguar caught me but I didn't think it was that serious."

"Why didn't you say something?" She asked.

"I didn't want you to feel guilty," he sighed.

"Guilty?" Josh looked at Kim. "Yesterday?"

"I'll tell you about it later," she told him. "We have to get Ron some help."

"Why don't you leave that to us?" Josh suggested. "You can finish your practice while Brick and I make sure that Ron goes to the school nurse."

"Thanks," Kim smiled her gratitude at him. Then, she fixed a hard glare on her best friend. "This is serious, Ron. You need help. Just let me know how it comes out, okay?"

"We'll get him there," Brick assured her. "C'mon Stoppable, nobody's going to think you're weak for getting some help for something like that. How did you wind up fighting a jagwire, anyway?"

"It's a jaguar," Josh pointed out. "But it's a good question. Ron, what were you doing fighting a jaguar?"

"I've got a better question," Brick interrupted Ron's answer. "What's a jaguar?"

* * *

Kim was not in a good mood.

Ron was hurt; that was very bad. She hadn't known about it, which made a bad situation worse. He had been working out with the squad, which couldn't have made the injury any better, which was worse yet. Finally, Bonnie decided to crank up the snark, as Brick escorting Ron to the nurse's office meant that he wasn't waiting around to dote on her. That was the little bit that made the sitch intolerable. The squad wasn't really into the practice and without a spotter, they couldn't do the towers, so Kim took it easy on them and called an early stop. Not bothering with a shower, she hurried towards the nurse's office. She encountered Josh and Brick, coming back towards the gym.

"Where's Ron?" She demanded of them.

"Kim, please listen," Josh answered her. "He's going to be fine, but.."

"Where is he?"

"The nurse sent him to the hospital," Brick told her. "She said that he's got some infection that she can't treat, but it's serious and needs to be taken care of right now."

"But..." she protested.

"I can give you a ride out there," Josh offered. "Just call your folks first and let them know where you're going. Then, you can tell me what was going on last night that got him hurt, okay?"

Kim forced herself to calm down. As much as she wanted to take charge of the situation, she couldn't. Ron was in the hospital, she was no doctor, so getting there right away wasn't going to help things. Josh was right, she needed to let her parents know what was up. She was also sweaty after the workout, so offending everyone around her wasn't going to help things, either. Finally, she needed to call his parents...assuming that they were home and that the school hadn't already called them.

"You're right," she sighed, getting control of herself. "Can you pick me up in ten minutes or so?"

"Of course," Josh promised her. She thanked him and rushed back to the gym and then to the locker room.

She brushed off the squad's questions about Ron and set a personal best record for showering and getting dressed. After that, she grabbed her bag, recovered her Kimmunicator and tried to call her parents.

"I'm ahead of you," Wade informed her, from the device.

"How..." she started to ask.

"I've got search algorithms in place for you, Ron and your families," he told her. "As soon as I picked up that Ron had been admitted to the medical center, I informed your father that you would be late getting back from school. Your mother is still at the medical center and has been appraised of Ron's condition."

"How about Ron's parents?" She asked.

"Out of town, but informed," he answered.

"Okay, what is his condition?"

"He's still being evaluated. I'll keep you updated. I'm assuming that Josh is going to give you a ride to the medical center."

"Uncanny, yet true."

"Okay, I'll let you go."

As close as she was to Ron, she wasn't his family. That meant that she didn't get updates from the staff and they wouldn't let her into the emergency room where he was being treated. Instead, she had to cool her heels in a waiting room. Josh was a great support, refusing to leave her without a ride home and giving her someone to vent to. Eventually, he talked her into telling him what had happened last night.

"I'm flattered," he told her. "Really, but you could have just asked to put off the date for a day or two."

"I..." despite her concern for Ron, she had to blush. How do you admit to your crush that you just couldn't say no to a date with him...without coming across as desperate? Fortunately, she had a welcome distraction.

"Miss Possible?" One of the staff called from the nurse's station.

"Yes!" She was relieved, for more than one reason, to rush to the window.

"Your mother asked us to inform you of Mr. Stoppable's condition. He is on a broad treatment of antibiotics to combat an infection he picked up. He will be held overnight and is even now being moved to a room."

"Where?" She demanded.

"Your mother told me you'd be eager to know," the young man offered her a slight smile. "So she told me to tell you this, before I gave you the room number. Like I said before, he's on a broad range of antibiotics as well as painkillers, this means that he's going to be a little disoriented. Walk up there, don't run. When you get there, don't ask him too many questions. If he gets agitated, change the subject. He needs to rest and get better."

"Got it," Kim told him. "Now, what's the room number?"

Sometimes, it's actually the gentlemanly thing to do to put your hands on a woman. Case in point, the moment Kim heard the room number, she tried to run towards the elevators. Josh caught her and forced her to walk. He kept a hand on her arm while the elevator took them to the destination floor, keeping her from running when the doors opened. He kept his hand on her arm, forcing her to walk at a somewhat sedate pace down the hall and forcing her to a stop before she barged into the room. She was irritated at first, but regained her composure and knocked at the already open door before sticking her head into the room.

"Hey, KP," Ron's words were slightly slurred when he greeted his friend.

"Hey," she replied, now walking into the room. She noted that Josh stayed at the door, giving her a little privacy with her friend.

"I guess I wasn't all that quick on the mission," he mumbled. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry," she told him. "You saved my life."

"Yeah, but I bet you had to tell Josh everything that happened," he sighed. "I was hoping to keep it a good night for you."

"It was," she assured him.

"And it was a good story," Josh mentioned, now walking into the room. "Not many people get to learn that there were embarrassment ninjas, super-villains and only slightly less dangerous brothers in the area, and you didn't know anything about them."

"I guess that would be a good story to hear about," Ron agreed.

"We didn't hear about your adventures," Kim told him. "You went all the way to the Amazon, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Ron took a deep breath. "The orchid's only found there. Wade sent one of his robots with me, but it didn't make it back. I...I really didn't think this scratch was all that serious."

"Don't worry about it," Kim told him. "Getting you better is the important thing. Do you need anything?"

"I could use some pajamas," he admitted.

"What about Rufus?" She asked.

"Hello!" The naked mole rat popped out from under Ron's blanket.

"I should have guessed," Kim said. "It's pretty much impossible to keep Rufus out of someplace he wants to be. If Josh will give me a ride, I'll get some pajamas for you."

"You don't even have to ask," the artist assured her.

The two left, leaving Ron and Rufus alone. As much as Ron liked to sleep, and as much as the medications he was on made him a little groggy, he just couldn't relax. It was Friday and by all rights, he should be stuffing his face with Bueno Nacho at this very moment. He wanted to feel the crunch of a taco shell breaking under his teeth, the burn of diablo sauce on his tongue. He longed for the sensation of melty cheese sliding down his throat. He hated to admit it, but the facts were impossible to deny.

He was suffering from junk food withdrawal.

Of all the places for this to hit him...at a facility dedicated to health!

He knew what it would be like; meal time would come and he would get lean meat, vegetables and fruit. Instead of the feel of a crispy shell being reduced to pulp in his mouth, it would be the hollow mockery of a carrot crunching between his teeth. Instead of delighting in the taste of cheese product, he would be eating real cheese! Instead of over processed ground beef, he would be forced to consume a slice of real beef, or chicken, or turkey! Instead of pressed wheat and corn product, he would eat...real bread. And forget about soda! Instead of the comfort of bubbly, sugar-laden liquid pouring empty calories down his throat, it would be milk or water!

The price of being a hero was truly horrific.

Maybe he was groggy or maybe feeling miserable had a way of making time go by faster. It was a long trip across town to his house and back, but it didn't feel like it was all that long before Josh and KP were back, Kim with a bundle of clothing. Okay, this was looking up a little. The medical staff didn't have a problem with him being out of his bed...just out of his room, so there was no problem with him visiting the bathroom and changing out of the less-than-modest hospital gown and into his pajamas.

"Thanks," he told his best friend, as he walked out of the bathroom. "I was getting tired of being dressed like a super-hero."

"Super-hero?" Josh asked.

"Captain Mooner," Ron explained.

"Well, since you're no longer a cheeky hero, maybe this will keep you occupied." Kim held up one familiar and one unfamiliar device.

"My game controller!" Ron exclaimed. "Connected too...?"

"A little something Wade whipped up," Kim told him. "It will control your room's television without needing to wire it in. You'll be able to bash zombies with Felix tonight."

"That's great!" Ron was happy, but then he frowned. Josh and Kim had taken seats and looked like they were both settling in for a stay. "Hey, you guys don't have to stay here! It's Friday night, you're supposed to be out doing fun things!"

"Ron, you're my best friend," Kim reminded him. "And you got hurt because I did something that wasn't very smart. I'm not leaving you alone here."

"And you did it because I asked her out on a date," Josh added. "The least I can do is hang here for a little while."

"Hey, it's almost meal time," Ron pointed out. "I've got Rufus to hang out with and you guys brought me my game controller, so I've got something to do." Maybe the various medicines running through his system made him braver than usual. He looked right at Josh. "Aren't boyfriends supposed to keep their girlfriends entertained on the weekend?"

"I..." Josh glanced at Kim, unable to come up with something to say.

"I mean, we..." Kim stammered.

"C'mon, you both want to be boyfriend and girlfriend," Ron taunted the two of them. "Go on out and act like it."

"Well, I don't have any dinner reservations, but there is a teen dance club I'd like to check out," Josh offered.

"That...sounds nice," Kim admitted. She then looked to Ron. "But I want you to call Wade if anything comes up! This isn't the end of Ron night, just a rain check. Once you get out of here, I'm going to treat you to Bueno Nacho until you're ready to burst!"

"I'll hold you to it," Ron assured her. "Now, get out of here you two."

* * *

It didn't' take Ron very long to question sending his best friend off, but he was determined that she wouldn't have another awkward date. The hospital food was just as horrid as he feared it would be. It wasn't that it tasted bad or that there wasn't enough of it. The problem was, like he suspected, it was healthy. After that, the zombie-bashing started off well enough, but Kim hadn't thought to bring along a second controller. Ron didn't mind sharing with Rufus, but the little guy was a much better player than he was and for every minute that Ron got to spend on line, Rufus spent three or four. Zombie killing was fun when you were doing it, but it lost it's appeal when it was a strictly spectator sport. He managed to entertain himself for a few minutes by playing with the bed controls, but contorting his sleeping surface into odd shapes was only fun for short while. After that, there was only sitting around glumly, hoping that Rufus would finally make a misstep and give him another crack at the undead.

"Hey Ron."

He turned to see a familiar face looking at him from the door.

"Penny!" He replied, momentarily entranced by her eyes. "W-what brings you here?"

"My volunteer work," she answered, gesturing towards here white and red striped dress.

"Oh," maybe the various painkillers and antibiotics had roughly the same effect that the truth ray had, but he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "It looks nice on you."

"Thanks," she blushed just a bit. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, trip to South America, big cat, dirty claw, that sort of thing."

"That sound interesting," she walked in and took a chair. "How did you wind up in South America?"

Ron found himself telling her. He didn't think about how unusual a tale with an embarrassment gas, embarrassment ninjas and an orchid would sound, but she seemed to hang on every word. Slightly off with the various medicines in his bloodstream, he wasn't tongue-tied when talking to a pretty girl.

"That's amazing," she told him. "Do you have any more stories?"

"Maybe," he told her. "But what is volunteering at the medical center like?"

He got to listen while she told him about her work, the odd hours and the sometimes bizarre requests that people made.

"I can't say the names of the people who made the requests," she told him. "But who wants a cow and a typewriter?"

"Totally eighties," Ron agreed. "These days, it would be a rabbit and a word processor."

"Absolutely," she nodded. "But how about another story?"

"Not many of them are all that interesting," he grumbled. "But I turned into a beaver mutant once."

"Okay, this I have to hear," she leaned forward.

Ron found himself enjoying telling her about the competition and jumping into the toxic waste. He was just about at the part when he was changed back to fully human when he was interrupted by another familiar voice from outside.

"I had a late shift," the voice announced. And I thought I'd stop by and check on you before going home."

"Oh, hey Mrs. Doctor P," Ron greeted the woman. "How are you doing?"

"The real question is, how are you doing?" She retorted, calling up his information on her iPad. "Hmm. It seems that the infection is responding to the antibiotics. While the medical center doesn't usually release patients on Saturdays, I think I can wing it tomorrow if your fever and swelling are under control. I expected Kim to be here with you."

"She was," Ron told her. "But I chased her off to have a date with Josh. Her last one had some pretty bizarre interruptions."

"And she left you alone?" The older redhead's eyebrow quirked and her voice sounded a little judgmental.

"Oh, she brought my game controller," Ron assured her. "Me and Rufus have been playing some online games."

"Rufus is good company," Dr. Possible noted. "But you spend every Friday night with Kim. She should have stayed."

"No problemo, Mrs. Dr. P," he declared. "Penny was kind enough to hang with me."

"Oh!" The doctor seemed to notice the candystriper for the first time. "Aren't the volunteer shifts already over?"

"It's okay, Dr. Possible," the teen assured her. "My shift was over..." she looked at her watch. "Two hours ago?"

"And you've kept Ron company since then?" Dr. Possible asked. "That's very kind of you."

"It's not problem," Penny told her. "He was just about to finish another story."

"Well, visiting hours are just about over," the doctor declared. "And even if your shift is over, you need to get back home. He can finish the story on Monday, in school."

"But..." Penny protested, looking at Ron. "Could I come in tomorrow?"

"Do you have a shift tomorrow?" The doctor asked, although she had a bit of a smile on her face. Penny shook her head.

"He'll probably be released fairly early," Dr. Possible told her. "After that, he's going to be either at home or at my home. You can see him on Monday."

Dr. Possible's smile grew when she saw the disappointment on Penny's face.

"Well, okay Dr. Possible," the teen grumbled. "I'll see you Monday, Ron."

"Yeah, and you better have some more stories, as well," Ron told her.

Penny seemed a little awkward, like she didn't know what to do before leaving. Finally, she walked out. Dr. Possible looked at Ron, her smile growing even more.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Oh, I think you're going to be in for an interesting time, come Monday," she chortled a little bit. "But don't you think you should do Penny a favor for keeping you company?"

"Well...sure," he looked confused.

"Here's what you'll do," Anne told him, then proceeded to give him some instructions.

* * *

Ron didn't think that he would ever be happy to see a Monday. His parents still weren't home on Saturday, when the medical center released him, so Mrs. and Mr. Dr.s P had insisted that he stay at their place. As much as he liked the idea of a Saturday hanging with Kim to make up for the missed Friday, there was such a thing as overdoing it. Kim's date with Josh on Friday, although an informal one, had gone off without a hitch, so Kim was in an even better mood than after the last one. She and her parents were incredibly grateful that he had fetched the orchid and Kim was still feeling a little guilty about his injury. As a result, she had done what Ron would have thought was absolutely impossible...she had overloaded him on Bueno Nacho.

He was still just a touch stiff and sore on the walk to school, but he was feeling a whole lot better than he had last week. He was also remembering the instructions that Mrs. Dr. P had given him in the hospital, then repeated on Saturday.

"So, you'll be at practice tonight," Kim insisted. "But no mad dog antics and no spotting. We have to get you completely healed up before you put stress on your muscles again."

"I heard you the first four times," he told her, even though he smiled when he did.

"Okay, I'm obsessing," she admitted. "I just can't help but feel guilty that you got hurt."

"It was due to happen eventually," he shrugged. "But what about you and Josh? Are you official now?"

"I don't know," she blushed furiously, without any part of her fading away. "I think we're working that way."

"Good," he shrugged. "But Fridays are still our nights, right?"

"Forever," she said, with conviction.

"Good," he nodded. "Now I just have to thank Penny."

"Penny?" She asked.

"She stopped by my room on Friday," he told her. "Your mom said I should thank her."

"Just how..." Kim tried to ask, but by then they had walked into the high school and Ron's time was taken by Monique, who wanted to know everything about his injury. He had just started the tale when they reached Kim's locker. By the time Kim had gotten her morning books and they had reached Ron's locker, they were most of the way through. Then, Ron spotted the girl he had to thank.

"Excuse me, ladies," he told Kim and Monique. He then approached Penny, struggling to keep his mind focused when he looked at her eyes. "Hey Penny," he greeted her. "I really need to thank you for keeping me company on Friday."

"Oh, no problem," she assured him. "But you never finished your story."

"Okay," he remembered the instructions the older redhead had given him. "If you let me carry your books, I'll finish the story. But you have to tell me another one of yours."

"Deal," she told him, handing over her books.

"Okay," Ron fell into step beside her. "I had just jumped into the toxic waste and.."

Behind him, Kim and Monique stared at the two as they faded into the crowd.

"Is that all it takes to charm a guy?" Monique asked her friend. "Just spend a little time with him and ask him to tell you a story?"

"It seems so," Kim answered. "Why do we have to make things so difficult?"

"I dunno," Monique sighed. "But I don't think you're gonna have to worry about Ron not having anything to do when you go on dates with Josh."

* * *

_A/N: Thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading._


End file.
